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Sharpening their skills
Cooking club starts to sizzle with students at Tusarvik

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, October 30, 2013

REPULSE BAY
A group of students at Tusarvik School have some of the happiest taste buds in Repulse Bay these days.

NNSL photo/graphic

Students Nellie Kopak, left, Veronica Uttak, Pauline Kridluar, Shelly Iguptak, Anita Kopak, Kevin Ivalutanar and Jay Mapsalak helped launch the Tusarvik School Cooking Club in Repulse Bay this past month. - photo courtesy of George Thompson

The youth joined the Tusarvik School Cooking Club this past month, after principal Aubrey Bolt approved guidance counsellor George Thompson's idea to launch the extracurricular activity.

Skills Nunavut approved an application for funding, and the club received $1,000 to help get it off on the right foot.

Thompson used the money to purchase a set of new pots and pans, as well as the all-important knife set every respectable kitchen is expected to possess.

The remainder of the funding will be used on groceries.

The utensils remain the property of Skills Canada, to be used by current and future cooking clubs under the canopy of Skills Nunavut.

The nine students to join the cooking club, to date, are Simon Alaralak, Nellie Kopak, Veronica Uttak, Pauline Kridluar, Shelly Iguptak, Anita Kopak, Kevin Ivalutanar, Jay Mapsalak and Ben Malliki.

Thompson said the club's first meeting was held on Sept. 10 in the school kitchen, and one guest is usually invited to every session.

He said, so far, the students have prepared spaghetti, pork chops, pizza and hamburgers, with caribou and Arctic char soon to appear on the menu.

"The students are enjoying eating meals they prepare, and they're learning lots of cooking skills," said Thompson.

"I had tried a chess club previously, but that didn't work out very well.

"But, I knew everybody liked to eat, so that's what I decided to do and, so far, it's gone very well.

"We've been at it for more than a month now, and the kids seem to really like it."

The club members head to the kitchen as soon as the final school bell sounds on meeting days.

The room becomes a beehive of activity as soon as the students arrive.

Many of them are also in the cadet program, so they must have the meal prepared and eaten, and the cleaning up finished, in time to head to their meeting before 6 p.m.

Thompson said he teaches them as much about cooking as he knows during the meetings.

He said he developed his cooking skills through the culinary school of life.

"I have four children and I was a single parent with three of them.

"As to be expected with kids joining a cooking club, some knew their way around a kitchen pretty good and some kids didn't have a clue.

"I'm not sure if there's time to raise the considerable amount of money needed for our students to attend this year's Skills Nunavut competition in Iqaluit, but we may give it a try.

"But, right now, I'm just really concentrating on teaching them how to cook."

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